Searchable electronic catalogs are commonly used in support of electronic commerce and purchasing functions. However, the catalogs loaded by buyers on their systems may not reflect the current prices of the items within the catalogs. As the catalog may have been loaded a while ago, the search result does not guarantee the exact picture to the buyer. That is, the buyer is not assured to have the latest price and availability information, which clearly, can lead to problems.
An out-of-date catalog may not provide the buyer with accurate product information. For example, when viewing a punch-out item, the buyer sees a price in the catalog, and clicks on a ‘Buy from Supplier’ button/link in, for example, an Ariba Buyer (®) product that punches the buyer out to the supplier site. It can be baffling to the buyer to see the new price there. This scenario can get worse if the buyer notices the price change only after ordering or receiving the item.
Item comparisons can be misleading if, for example, a price comparison is on an outdated catalog. More specifically, the buyer is not provided with the correct product comparison information.
An outdated catalog can result in a loss of business for a supplier. For example, if a price of a product is reduced but not reflected in a buyer's catalog, the buyer may very well chose not to buy a product from that supplier. Additionally, outdated catalogs can result in buyers submitting purchase orders for products that are no longer available, or for products in which the price of the product has changed. Providing a buyer with a new catalog whenever the catalog is updated can be cumbersome due to the large amount of information that can exist within the catalog.
There is a need for a system, method and apparatus for providing a buyer with updated catalog product information, wherein a download (or uploading) of a catalog is not required each time information related to products within the catalog are updated.